As is well known, exchanging electronic messages such as emails or texts over a communication system has become a preferred mode of communication for individuals in both business and social settings. However, sometimes people send messages and afterwards, for whatever reason, wish they had not sent the message (e.g., the message was sent mistakenly, impulsively, etc.). Some communication systems allow a sender to recall a sent message. For example, the Google® (Mountain View, Calif.) email system known as Gmail® allows a user to recall a sent message within a predetermined time period, e.g., five seconds, if the user configured his/her email settings to do so. But this does not solve the problem when the predetermined time period has passed, and particularly when the sent message has already been received by a recipient of the message. The Microsoft® (Redmond, Wash.) email system known as Outlook® also allows recall of a sent message, however, only if the message has not yet been read by a recipient.
Once a message is received at a destination, recipients can copy, print and forward the message. Some communication systems allow a sender to configure a message as one which cannot be copied or printed. As such, a recipient who receives the message can only read the message but cannot perform standard operations such as copying, forwarding or printing.
Some communication systems provide security and privacy control for received messages whereby only an authorized or authenticated user is able to access the message. Authorization or authentication may be provided, for example, by automatic methodologies in combination with biometric sensors (e.g., user identification via face recognition) whereby a message is deleted if an attempt to view it is being made by an unauthorized or unauthenticated person. But this still does not resolve the problem of preventing the processing of a message, that the sender wishes had not been sent, by an authorized or authenticated recipient.